My thoughtful son

So I tend to be the type of person that lets circumstances dictate my mood. Afterwards I think why did I let that ruin me but in the midst of it I just don’t see it. So last night Marty got home early from work (yeah!) and he had some time with the kids and then said he wanted to take us out to dinner. Of course I agreed, this meant not having to figure out dinner. We go out to the car and it is really cloudy outside but no rain. Well, the second we pull the van out of the driveway it starts to sprinkle. In the next two minutes it goes from sprinkle to downpour and extremely high winds. Then when we get to the next light, the power is out! Well, it was really storming so we decided instead of trying to gets the kids inside a restaurant in pouring rain and winds, we should probably just go back home. So needless to say I was frustrated and letting circumstances dictate my mood. Marty decided he would go by himself and pick us up some food. Before he left he wanted to help me feel better so he asked Graham and Abbie to do one thing that would make me smile.
As soon as Marty left Graham immediately ran upstairs. I thought maybe he just wanted to watch Marty leave from the upstairs window, but then he stayed upstairs. A few minutes later he came down stairs and said he wanted to show me something and to close my eyes. I went to the stairs and he had cleaned off all the toys! (Molly’s new thing is to take her toys and throw them over the gate at the top of the stairs) Then he asked me to come upstairs. He had cleaned up the hallway AND also his room! I have to say this was one of the most thoughtful things Graham has done for me. He was so incredibly sweet about it and definitely did make me smile .

Valentine's Day

Trying to get a group picture:


Abbie was distracted by her new Barbie, Graham is sort of smiling and well, Molly is only 1 years old.


I love the way you can see my stair step kids:) Again not looking at the camera, but so cute.


Graham really loved his shirt that says "My dad is super." He loves his daddy!


I love how Molly is sweetly touching her brother and looking at him.


Abbie was telling me how much she loves her daddy.


Graham is telling me that also, I was making a card for daddy for Valentine's Day.


Molly looks so tiny in this picture, with her tiny little shadow.


Love Graham's smile in this picture.


Abbie swinging her new Valentine Barbie and another Barbie also.


I made a heart shaped pizza. The kids (and Marty) thought it was so fun.


We had salad with strawberries also. I made sure one looked just like a heart.

True Meaning of a name

My kids and I were talking yesterday over lunch about how names have a meaning. We have a friend Sarah and her name means princess. When I told them that Sarah meant princess Abbie couldn't understand. She just kept saying "No, Abbie's the princess." But when I told her what her name means, which is why we choose it, she was more excited. Abigail means "her father's joy." I love it! It is just so sweet. It can mean her heavenly father and earthly father's joy!! And she definitely is a joy. Well of course Graham wanted to know what all of our names meant. I couldn't seem to find what Molly meant on the first few websites I looked at. They all just told me that it was a nickname of Mary (and that Mary can sometimes mean bitter?!) So Graham was trying to guess what Molly means and says to me, "Mommy, I think Molly must mean beautiful, happy baby ." What a sweetheart. He is the best and sweetest big brother!


Here's a picture of how sweet Graham is to his sister. He lets her climb all over him. In this picture she is actually sitting on his head. They both thought it was hilarious.

Just in case you were curious, Molly means star of the sea and Graham means warring.

Kitchen hardware

Yesterday my husband installed hardware on our kitchen cabinets. It looks so much better. I was against it at first, because I like things simple. And I really like straight bar handles but they are to contemporary for our cabinets we have. Some day we will get to have most the things we want in a house - hopefully we can build some day. Anyways, so because my husband and many others really thought it would make the cabinets look better, I changed my mind. We really like the way it turned out. So here's a picture:



So now we really want stainless appliances:) BUT we are really working on contentment.

***This post was put up specially for my sweet friend Brandi and now she'll know which way our cabinets open.

Sea World, part 2

We also went to the part where you can watch the whales swim around. Graham and Abbie were absolutely fascinated by the whales (and so were Marty and I).


He just kept swimming in a circle and slowly spinning, the Sea World employee told us that is how they sleep! So amazing.


The dolphin was blowing bubbles for one of the trainers.


It was one of the trainers (I guess Kristen's) birthdays so they were making this for her, so cute huh! Notice the whale is sticking his tongue out!


Graham and Abbie did not want to leave.


They were absolutely loving watching the whale!


This was how they were almost the whole time.

First Trip to Sea World

Our first family trip to Sea World was so much fun. The kids absolutely loved it!


All of us at the Shamu show, minus Molly.


If you look closely you can see that there are people jumping above the whales.


Graham watching the show.


Abbie loved the whales.


A person on top of the whale.


Graham, mommy and Abbie rode the "Ocean Commotion"


Abbie, Graham and daddy rode the "swishy fishies."


Then the kids went down some slides. Graham is running out so he can go again.


I guess Abbie didn't slide all the way to the end. She had to go in the pink slide, her favorite color.


Graham and Abbie (and some other random kid) with Shamu.


Abbie, Mommy and Graham getting ready to ride "The Flying Fiddler." I thought oh this is just a little kid ride, it won't really do anything, but it really did make me lose my stomach:)


Abbie, Graham and Daddy in the "Jazzy Jellies." It lifts you up while you spin. They did great, I thought they might be a little scared.


Riding the "Sea Carousel", not sure why Abbie looks so sad, she really was having a blast!